Coming Attractions

What Is Matt Damon Trying to Tell Us About Outer Space?

Is Matt Damon trying to tell us something about outer space? After making a surprise appearance in last fall’s Interstellar, as an astronaut abandoned for years on a faraway planet, he’s returning later this year in The Martian, as . . . an astronaut abandoned for years on a faraway planet. And he’s even reuniting with Jessica Chastain in this one, which gives us the strong suggestion that the two of them are preparing for a future of space travel the rest of us haven’t been told about yet.

Or, alternatively, the two actors jumped at the chance to work with two great directors (Christopher Nolan on Interstellar and Ridley Scott on The Martian) and accepted the space suits as part of the deal. At the very least, Damon’s time on Mars appears to be a lot lighter than his sobbing introduction in Interstellar, as this trailer shows him tossing off lines like “I’m gonna have to science the shit out of this” as if it’s just another Ocean’s adventure.

And you know what? We could really use that kind of take on outer space! Space exploration is hip onscreen these days, but the depictions usually range from grim (the many apocalypses of the two Star Trek movies) to the grimmer (Gravity, Scott’s own Prometheus). Damon’s playing the kind of astronaut we grew up fantasizing about: cocky, brilliant, and ready to solve problems. Who knows if The Martian ends as happily as Apollo 13; Damon’s Mark Watney still seems like good company for Jim Lovell.